Objective:
PBARC’s ‘zero waste’ concept makes use of agricultural and other waste feedstock to produce biofuels and feeds. In this specific cooperative agreement, we focus on using waste glycerol and albizia wood as the carbon source for heterotrophic oil-producing algae and fungi. The objective is to harvest the algae and fungi to extract oil and high protein meal. The oil would be the source for producing biodiesel or aviation fuel, and the meal as a component of animal feed.

Approach:
The most important starting element of the project is to obtain algae or fungi that effectively use the above selected feedstock as carbon sources. To accomplish this, we will collaborate with BioTork, LLC which has a patented ‘evolugate’ process to rapidly select heterotrophic algae and fungi that can grow efficiently on the targeted feedstock. These algae/fungi would be transferred to PBARC where personnel will determine the optimal conditions for growing the selected algae/fungi on the selected feedstock and characterize the oil and meal for their suitability as biofuel or animal feeds. The oil and the meal will be tested by a third party for their potential to produce biodiesel and fish feed. PBARC will scale up the production and analyze the economic feasibility for large scale production of algae/fungi oil and meal.